Snitch is an effective, efficient thriller “inspired by true events”. Yet after watching the film you get the impression “inspired” has provided license to focus more on the fictional elements and less on the factual. The true story more complex and ambiguous would struggle to fit into this simple straightforward narrative. The film explores what would a father do to save his son from 10 years in prison. If the father is Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson the answer is simple he’ll risk everything. As he says early in the film “I’ve been rolling the dice my whole life I’ll do it again.”

Snitch is schizophrenic grabbling with the “Rocks” action movie baggage and the films family drama themes. The films failings emerge in the conventional trappings of both types of film. The director Ric Roman Waugh previous work Felon is a little seen pulpy prison thriller that featured terrific performances from Stephen Dorff and Val Kilmer.

The story deals with John Matthews (Johnson) a successful truck freighting businessman whose son Jason (Rafi Gafron) is incarcerated for distributing ecstasy tablets after being set-up by his friend in exchange for a lighter sentence. This triggers John to go undercover for the DEA to arrest a major drug dealer in order to free his son. Caught up in the drama is Daniel (Jon Bernthal) an ex-con and family man who works for John and accepts money in order to set-up introductions into the drug world. Around the periphery DA Joanne Keeghan (Sarandon) and Agent Cooper (Pepper) are desperate to deliver arrests and in the DA’s case will sacrifice Matthews to achieve her political ambitions.

The best performance in Snitch comes from Jon Bernthal. He’ so convincing as an ex-con I needed to check his background in IMDB to validate his acting credentials. In a pivotal scene he rescues his son from the neighbourhood gang. Shot with W

While not without its faults, Snitch is a solid and surprising film that walks a fine line between action and drama, leaning more toward the latter. That said, the climactic action set piece does feel a bit blown out of proportion, especially in comparison to its more grounded earlier scenes. But most important of all, Snitch is a far better film than its advertising suggests... and Barry Pepper gives an outstanding support performance.